


catching fire like kerosene

by lucasashtons



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fireman Ashton, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 22:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3787408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucasashtons/pseuds/lucasashtons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Luke accidentally burns down his apartment, he's rescued by a cute fireman named Ashton, who ends up getting Luke to be his fake boyfriend. </p>
<p>or, 5 times Luke and Ashton pretended to be dating, and the one time they admitted to themselves that they actually were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	catching fire like kerosene

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rocketshiptospace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocketshiptospace/gifts).



> This is for my sweet sweet Ellie's birthday. Happy Birthday dear!

1

Luke couldn’t help but feel on edge as he watches the flames engulf his apartment completely, smoke billowing out his windows as the fire brigade attempts to calm the flames before they catch fire to the rest of the building. There’s soot on his face, some smoke still in his lungs from being trapped in there. He’s sitting in an ambulance, trying to cough out the rest of the smoke while an EMT insists they give him more oxygen.

“Was there anyone else in there with you?” They had asked him when one of the firefighters got him out, Luke coughing harshly and his eyes far too heavy to open and see who was even addressing him. He can’t even bring himself to nod that yes, there was someone else left in there. It wasn’t until they got some oxygen pumped into him that he managed to cough out that he left behind his cat.

His eyes haven’t left the fire escape since.

He had adopted Pebbles when he had first moved into the apartment, back when he was fresh out of university and excited to be a proper adult. He finally had his degree, he was going to make a name for himself in the world, but he still felt pretty lonely in his apartment. He couldn’t ask Michael to move in with him, mainly because the boy had already bought his own apartment to live in with his boyfriend. So Luke settled for a tiny little kitten he found outside his fire escape one night, mewling pathetically at Luke’s bedroom window.

He’d fallen in love with the cat the minute it looked at him with its sad green eyes. It’d been him and Pebbles for three years in that apartment, up until now. It was pathetic, really, how the fire had even caught. Luke had unknowingly left a lit candle beside his curtains, which, due to the night air, blew towards the lit flame and had been set ablaze. Luke had no idea there even was a fire until he was woken up by intense heat and smoke entering his lungs.

A fireman had said there was a good chance they could save some of his belongings, but they also told him not to get his hopes up. Honestly he was just hoping they could get Pebbles out in time. That cat was one of the most important belongings he had and he was still angry he couldn’t have grabbed her in time.

“I believe this little girl belongs to you?” a voice says, making Luke remove his oxygen mask to see one of the firemen standing in front of him, holding a ash covered white cat. Luke smiles widely as Pebbles is placed in his arm, rubbing herself against her owner and purring.

“Thank you,” Luke tells the fireman, his voice raspy from the smoke. “Don’t know what I’d do without my precious girl, she’s pretty much the only company I have since I moved out of my parent’s house.” He looks up at his apartment, a frown settling on his face once more. “They can’t save it can they?”

The fireman lets out a sigh, removing his helmet to reveal a mess of curls atop his head. They are coated in soot, as well as slick with sweat. The guy shakes his head a bit before also removing his heavy coat and hanging it on the door of the ambulance. “They are trying, but when I was inside there it didn’t look good.”

Luke feels his heart drop to his stomach. He had worked so hard to get that apartment, to show to his parents that he wasn’t going to be one of those college graduates that moved in with their parents after they graduated. For three years he’d kept that up, until he pulled this stupid stunt. He feels tears build in his eyes, and while he really would hate to cry in front of the guy that saved him he can’t help it.

“It’s alright to cry,” the guy tells him, wrapping an arm around Luke to let him cry into him. “It’s a lot to take in I understand. Just let it out, it is better than keeping it all in trust me.”

Luke wonders if this guy does this a lot, comforting people as their home burns down. With the kind smile and his cute dimples it wouldn’t surprise him that his job is to cheer people up. He seems like the guy that would do his best to put a smile on someone’s face.

He lifts his head up from the guy’s chest, wiping his face from the tears that had escaped from his eyes. “Thank you for saving me, I could have roasted if I hadn’t woken up in time. Thank you for saving Pebbles as well, she appreciates it.” He scratches behind the cat’s ears, a meow of delight coming from her. “Guess all that’s left to do now is call my mom and ask if she’s willing to let me move back in for a while.”

The guy pats his shoulder. “I’m going to go back and check with the guys, see if they managed to get anything out of your apartment. If you need anything, just holler at me, alright?” He holds out his hand. “I’m Ashton by the way, and I hope everything works out for you.”

Luke grins before sliding his hand into Ashton’s open one, shaking them. “Thank you, I’ll let you know alright?” Ashton gives him one last dazzling smile that leaves Luke’s heart flutter before he’s off, talking to one of the other firemen that is leaning against one of the trucks. Luke dials his mother’s number into his phone as he continues to pet Pebbles, who’s curled up into his lap and taking a nap.

Liz picks up after a couple of rings, sounding panicked. “Your apartment is on the news! Please tell me you are alright and you got out with no injuries.”

“I’m alright mom,” he says, looking up at his smoking apartment with glum. “Pebbles and I got out with minimum damage, wish I could say that for the rest of my stuff.” He watches various firemen carry out burnt items from the wreckage, bringing them down to the ground and observing them. “Mind if I come stay with you and dad until I find a new apartment?”

“Not at all,” Liz tells him. “I’d prefer it, actually. Just let me know when you are on your way to our place and I’ll be ready to help you get comfortable. I’m just so glad to hear you are alright.”

They talk for a little while longer before Luke hangs up, Ashton walking back to him with a couple of things in a cardboard box. “Well, this is what wasn’t burnt in the apartment. There are a few more boxes of stuff, most of the things in those a little burnt but nothing to serious. I can give you a lift to where you are staying if that makes you feel any better.” He sounds hopeful, it almost makes Luke laugh.

“I’d really appreciate that,” Luke says, before placing Pebbles into the box with his things, making sure it’s nothing that could injure her. “C’mon Pebbles, let’s go to our new home.” The cat meows in response before curling up and falling back asleep, Luke smiling down at her before placing the box in the seat on the fire truck. He slides in beside it before buckling up and turning to Ashton. “My parents place is just a few blocks away, I’ll guide you.”

Ashton nods, pulling out of the apartment complex and heading towards the directions Luke gives him. They make small talk on the way over, Ashton asking Luke what he did for a living (working for a record company as an intern, luckily paid), what made him name his cat Pebbles (she loves the cereal, it was fate), and various other things about him. In return, Ashton practically gave Luke his life story, and by the time they arrived outside of the Hemmings home Luke felt like he and Ashton were best friends.

“Thank you for the ride,” Luke tells him, Ashton stopping the truck against the curb and shutting off the engine. “And once again for saving me. You probably get that a lot but I really do mean it.” He grabs the box, careful not to jostle the sleeping cat, and opens the door, stepping out onto the sidewalk. Ashton is right behind him with the other box of belongings, giving him a friendly smile.

“No problem, anything for you,” he says before pulling a face and stopping. “Fuck, I didn’t mean it like that I meant you are welcome, I mean, because you just went through something traumatizing, and,” he huffs, letting out a laugh that has Luke smiling. “I mean no problem.”

Luke laughs at the flustered fireman, heart fluttering when he sees the beautiful dimples carved into Ashton’s face. He truly is gorgeous, with tanned skin and muscles, and Luke can’t help but think he’s incredibly lucky to have been rescued by someone of Ashton’s beauty. It also helped that Ashton was one of the nicest guys he’s encountered in quite a while, so there was that.

The door opens as they approach the front porch, Liz stepping out into the night air to welcome them. “I’m so glad you are okay baby, though you do have some soot on your face.” She wipes at the darkness, making Luke groan. “Oh hush, it’s gone now.” She turns towards Ashton, eyebrow quirked. “Who might this be? The boyfriend you’ve been hiding?”

Luke laughs, about to dismiss her assumption and tell her the truth, but then Ashton’s piping up unexpectedly. “Can’t believe you’ve been hiding me Lukey boy! How dare you!” It almost makes Luke drop his stuff and smack Ashton really hard, but he refrains from the action in order to just stare at him in confusion.

Liz lets out a huge laugh, a smile on her face as she approaches Ashton. “So very nice to meet you…”

“Ashton,” he says, fixing the box to shake her hand. “And about that, I was just-“

Liz waves her hand, ignoring him in favor of taking the box from his hands and heading towards the house. “No need to say anything sweetheart, let’s just get the two of you settled in for the night and then we can discuss this in the morning.” Luke turns to look at Ashton, refraining from giving him a death glare for his comment as they enter the house.

“No need for me to stay, but thank you,” Ashton says, standing on the porch. “I actually don’t live with Luke, I have my own apartment a couple of blocks down.” He shakes Liz’s hand, giving her a warm smile. “It was nice meeting you Mrs. Hemmings, and um,” he turns to Luke, unsure of his next move but settling to kiss him on the cheek. “See you tomorrow babe, get some rest alright?” He’s then leaving and entering the fire truck, taking off down the road as Luke stands there with his jaw slack.

“He seems like a sweet boy,” Liz says, looking through the box Ashton had been carrying. “He’s also a firemen! He must have been on duty when they arrived at your apartment! Poor boy must have been worried sick about you, how come you’ve been hiding him all this time?”

Luke needs to reply honestly, tell his mother that he hasn’t been hiding anyone from her, that Ashton was just taking the piss when he had said that, but for some reason he can’t bring himself to do that. The burning sensation from Ashton kissing his cheek is still there, making his heart flutter again and his next words make him want to smack his head against a countertop. “Guess I was just waiting until we’ve dated long enough to say anything.” If Ashton got him into this mess, he was going down with him.

Sure, he could have easily told his mother that they were not dating, and that Ashton was just the guy who saved him that night, but of course, Luke was an idiot.

He blames it on the smoke he inhaled.

2

 “So,” Calum sits himself down beside Ashton at one of the table’s in the department’s break room, lunch sack in hand as he digs into the bag to pull out a sandwich. “What is this I hear that you have a crush on the guy you saved last night? You do know we are not supposed to date people we rescue, right?”

Ashton waves a hand at that, crumpling up his sandwich bag and tossing it towards one of the dumpsters, the bag knocking off the side and falling to the floor. He pouts. “I am very much aware of that rule, but since when has anyone here actually _followed_ it. Need I remind you that you ended up dating one of the guys that we saved a few months back, and you _live_ with him?”

“You gave me permission!” Calum insists, tossing a potato chip at his friend. “Besides you love him too, don’t deny it. You on the other hand have a crush on someone we rescued from a blazing apartment, a guy you scooped into your arms and saved him from his fiery demise!” He gives Ashton a smile as he swallows down the bit of sandwich in his mouth. “It’s like a freaking romantic story Ash!”

Ashton waves his hand at that. “I don’t even have the guy’s number Calum, so it’s not like I can get a hold of him anytime soon and ask him out. I knew him for all but two hours, we are not meant to be or anything along those lines.” He’s about to get up and head towards the trucks, talk with some of the guys hanging out around there when he’s stopped by none other than Leighton, one of the lead firefighters and honestly, a massive pain in Ashton’s ass. They were friends, as were all the firefighters, but Leighton seemed to be the only one who didn’t know when to quit with the teasing.

“What’s this I hear about our Ashton getting a boyfriend huh?” Leighton remarks, stupid smirk on his face as he adjusts the ponytail that holds back his long black hair. “Has it finally happened? Has our single, pathetic Ashton Irwin found someone that can handle dating a firefighter?”

“Piss off Leighton,” Ashton says, pushing the guy playfully in the arm. “Why? Think you need to meet him or something, give him the Cauchi stamp of approval?”

“Just making sure he’s perfect for you is all,” Leighton assures, walking into the break room and pulling out his wallet in front of the vending machine. “I mean, you have to bring a date to the fireman’s banquet anyhow, might as well bring him and introduce him to everyone.” He presses some numbers on the machine before turning to Ashton. “Unless, he’s not your boyfriend?”

Ashton really should know better, after his stupid joke last night to Luke’s mother, but of course he’s stupid enough to say, “He is! I’m just not sure if he’s willing to meet everyone yet is all, you know? He’s kind of a shy guy and he recently just went through something pretty traumatic, I doubt he’ll want to go out anytime soon.”

Leighton seems to understand, nodding his head as he reaches for the snack he ordered. “Well, the banquet is this weekend. Just ask him, see if he’s willing to come out and meet us. If he’s not then I guess we’ll have to meet him some other time you know?” He waves goodbye to him before leaving the room, Calum walking up shortly after.

“Please tell me you are not going to bring Luke to that banquet,” he says before Ashton turns to him, grin on his face. “Aw fuck, I can’t talk you out of this can I?”

“Nope,” Ashton declares. “I’m just going to go back to Luke’s place and ask if he’d like to come and pretend to be my boyfriend. It’s just one night, and it’s that one night that could get Leighton and the other guys to step heckling me about being one of the only single guys on the squad. That’s all it is.”

Calum snorts at that. “Yeah, okay, whatever you say Ash. Just don’t come crying to me when you realize that you really like this guy and he just wants a fake thing, okay?” He pats Ashton quickly on the shoulder before leaving the break room, leaving Ashton to form a plan on his own.

*

He really wants to hit himself later, when he’s arrived at Luke’s parent’s house and Luke answers the door without a shirt on. He’s already dug himself in the deepest hole he could with this entire plan but of course, the guy he’s decided to do this with has to be gorgeous with a shirt on and without a shirt.

It was cruel.

“Ash, hey!” he greets, cute smile on his face and now Ashton _really_ wants to punch himself. “Surprised to see you here, would you like to come in? My parents are out for the moment so we don’t have to pretend we are dating, which, by the way, I still want to hit you for saying that.” He rambled, and Ashton now really hates himself for finding it absolutely adorable.

“About that,” Ashton laughs, stepping into the house and turning to face Luke. “I kind of mouthed off to some people at work, ones that have always nagged me for never dating and all that jazz, and told them that I was dating you? I understand if that was crossing boundaries, I mean what I did last night was out of line and I was joking to break the ice-“

Luke’s chuckle is what makes him stop with his rambling, a sweet, beautiful noise that makes Ashton’s cheeks warm up. “Ashton, that’s totally okay. I’m not actually upset about you saying that, though I did have to make up some sort of reason as to why I’ve been hiding you for so long.” He grabs his shirt from where it’s hanging over one of the kitchen chairs, pulling it over his head. “So, I’m assuming they want proof that you actually are dating someone?”

Ashton nods. “Yeah, at this upcoming banquet? It happens every year, it’s where the firemen get together with dates and receive awards and shit, really Cal and I just go for the food. This time I told them I had a date though and they expect him to be there being supportive and all that.” He gives a smile to Luke, hands in a prayer position. “Please?”

“I guess that’s alright,” Luke decides, but stops Ashton before he can cheer. “Only if you let me stay at your apartment though. I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but I can’t handle living here until I find a new apartment. My mother’s being completely overprotective now and frankly, it’s scaring me.”

“Deal!” Ashton reaches forward, wrapping his arms around Luke’s waist and hugging him tightly. “Seriously you are the best for doing this I cannot thank you enough.” He doesn’t even realize he’s tightening his grip on Luke until he hears the guy coughing and he releases his grip. “Shit, sorry I didn’t mean to take your breath away.” He smacks his head at his choice of words. “I didn’t mean that, I meant-“

“You are so shit at words,” Luke chuckles, making Ashton blush. “Maybe I should do all the talking at this banquet, don’t want you risking telling everyone the truth about this whole arrangement now do we?” He gives Ashton a flirtatious wink and Ashton would be lying if he didn’t feel his knees buckle a bit at that.

“Y-yeah, that might be best,” Ashton agrees. He suddenly feels a tickle on his leg and yelps, looking down to see Pebbles rubbing against his leg. “Aw, I forgot all about her! Is she doing alright living here?” He leans down and picks the cat up, kissing her fur.

“Dad doesn’t like her, but my mom loves her.” Luke takes Pebbles from Ashton’s arms, scratching behind her ears before placing her back on the ground. “I guess I’ll go pack my stuff and we can head to your place? When is this banquet anyway?” He grabs a box from the kitchen table and motions for Ashton to follow him, both of them heading down a small hallway towards Luke’s old bedroom.

Ashton takes a seat at Luke’s desk once they enter the room, Luke heading towards the closet and putting some clothes into the box. The room seems to have been converted into a guest room, blue wallpaper on the walls and flowers set up near the window sill to put off the look of tidy. It makes Ashton chuckle a bit at how ordinary it looks, and the fact that it doesn’t fit the person he’s only known for nearly two days now. He wouldn’t have even guessed this was Luke’s old room.

“This weekend,” Ashton explains, rocking his feet back and forth in the chair. “Which means we have exactly two days to discuss possible ways we got together before it comes up. Whatever we managed to come up with we have to tell my friend Cal though, he’s the only one who knows we are doing this.”

Luke laughs softly, placing a couple of shirts into the box. “Why don’t we just use the story I told my mom? We met when Pebbles got herself stuck in a tree by a park, you came to her rescue because she was pretty high up. The reason we’ve had to keep it a secret is because you had just gotten out of a pretty bad relationship and were hesitant about getting back out there and you didn’t want people swarming your new relationship.” He looks over at Ashton for approval and laughs at the expression of wonder on Ashton’s face. “I’m pretty good at improvisation.”

“Good, we’ll need lots of that,” Ashton gets up from the chair, helping fold some of the shirts Luke took from the closet and placing them in the box. It’s a comfortable silence that follows, just folding Luke’s clothes and packing them, but Ashton can’t help but look up at smile fondly at the gorgeous blond boy. Ashton had to admit he was nervous about this plan, mostly because it could end in a complete disaster, but mostly because he actually really liked Luke. He’s seen the stupid movies: he doesn’t want to end up broken hearted when Luke doesn’t want to have a relationship.

It’s even worse when they get to Ashton’s apartment.

“There’s only my bedroom and one bathroom, but the couch pulls out into a bed and it’s actually pretty comfortable,” Ashton explains, pulling some blankets and pillows from the hall closet. He tosses them onto the couch before pointing down the hall. “My bedroom is the door on the right, bathroom is the door to the left.” He goes to take one of the boxes from Luke’s hand and their fingers brush slightly, almost making Ashton lose his grip on the box. He blushes, hiding his face away from Luke before heading down the hall towards the bathroom. “I don’t mind you using my shampoo or body wash, so don’t hesitate to do so.”

Luke nods, placing his box down in the living room and smiling at Ashton again, that one dimple poking out and making Ashton feel weak again. “Thank you, for letting me stay here. I promise it won’t be forever, I just need to find a new place and then I’ll be out of your hair.” He sits down on the couch and sighs. “So, what do I need to know about you in order to fool everyone at this banquet?”

Ashton heads towards the kitchen, pulling out some things for dinner as he speaks. “Well, the person we’ll probably be interacting with the most is my best friend Calum. He’s in on this entire thing and can help us if we happen to hit a rut with conversation. He’s bringing his boyfriend too, so maybe we could get him on it as well.” He’s boiling water in a pot when he turns back towards Luke, who has an amused expression. “What?”

“I think Calum’s boyfriend would definitely be in on this,” Luke agrees, chuckling a bit before getting up and sitting at the bar in the kitchen, holding up his phone to Ashton’s face. “Considering he is _my_ best friend.”

The picture is of Calum and his boyfriend, pulling stupid faces in the camera. Ashton lets out a laugh at the picture, knowing for a fact that Calum had it saved as his wallpaper on his phone. “How on Earth have our friends been dating each other for this long and did not introduce us?” _Why didn’t Calum introduce him to someone this beautiful and amazing sooner?_

“Who knows,” Luke laughs, locking his phone and putting it back in his pocket. “Surprised I didn’t connect the dots sooner either. Did Calum ever tell you how they met or were you on the call when you Calum rescued him?”

Ashton shakes his head, dumping the sauce into a pan and letting it cook. “I wasn’t on call that night, but I remember Calum telling me the story. Romantic evening gone wrong, he got dumped by his boyfriend afterwards, they hit it off instantly. It’s a pretty sweet story until Calum goes into detail about what they did afterwards.”

Luke cringes at that, pretending to gag. “Michael does that too, both of them are weirdos.” He swipes his finger into the pan quickly, sticking his sauce coated finger into his mouth before Ashton can whack him with the wooden spoon. He moans around his finger, eyes closed and Ashton has to bite his lip in order not to react. “That tastes fucking amazing.”

“I’ve always been told my sauce is pretty great, so thank you.” He gives Luke a grin before dumping the noodles into the boiling pot and beginning to stir. “Anyway, most of the fire department is pretty friendly, aside from Leighton, but he means well. He’ll probably be the one badgering us the most all night.”

“He’s the one you told that we were dating I’m guessing?”

Ashton nods. “He’s one of the guys on the crew that is always on me about being single. It’s all friendly banter but sometimes they can be a little much. I promise I’ll be by your side the entire time so you don’t have to listen to them for too long.” He holds out the wooden spoon, some sauce on the end. “Want to taste it again, make sure it’s perfect?”

The rest of the night feels almost incredibly domestic: they have dinner together and laugh about their ridiculous lives, what Luke needs to know about Ashton in order to pull of the fake dating scene, and even some obnoxious stories about their jobs. By the end of the night, Ashton really thinks Luke would be perfect for him, in a real relationship.

It’s then that he’s reminded of those stupid movies again and now he’s wondering what will happen after all of this. He doesn’t want to stop being friends with Luke, but then again Ashton always has a hard time staying friends with people he’s been in a relationship with. Despite the relationship being fake, he wonders if they could go to a place where they are just friends.

Ashton doesn’t want to go to that place, that’s for sure.

*

“So you really weren’t lying Irwin!”

They had just arrived at the banquet half an hour ago, hands intertwined and Ashton sticking to Luke’s side like a magnet. Luke didn’t mind exactly, the fluttering in his chest giving that away, but it was also strange to act like they were dating when they obviously were not. Luke’s never really been in a relationship for quite a while, almost to the point where he’s forgotten what it’s even like to be dating someone.

Ashton, on the other hand, is handling this like a natural. He’s been placing sweet kisses to Luke’s cheek, introducing Luke to practically everyone without stuttering, and Luke finds himself almost fooled by their act. It’s this guy, however, that Ashton had told him to prepare himself for, and now he’s not sure how to act.

Ashton presses a kiss to his neck and squeezes his hand before responding. “Of course not! Leighton, this is my boyfriend, Luke. Luke, this is Leighton, the pain in my ass that you’ve been hearing about for a while now.”

Luke gives Leighton a friendly grin, shaking his hand. “Yes I believe I’ve heard of him!” he chuckles, playing the part. “It’s nice to meet you finally, though you don’t seem to have the devil horns Ashton described you with.” Light hearted humor, all boyfriends tend to do that with their significant other’s co-workers, right? Yeah, he’s doing well.

 Leighton laughs at his joke, a smile embracing his features. “Glad to know you have someone with a sense of humor Ash, makes up for your lack of it.” He turns towards the front of the room, where a man has stepped in front of a podium and grins. “Looks like they are about to announce some awards. How about you guys come sit next to me and Dylan?”

Ashton nods before following Leighton towards the table, hand on the small of Luke’s back. It calms him down a bit, an assurance that everything is going well and Luke shouldn’t be worrying. He shouldn’t be, they’ve got this down perfectly. He looks behind him, where Michael and Calum are sitting together and shoots them a thumbs up. They offer smiles in return, and that helps a little more too.

The man up front begins to speak, his voice booming and echoing throughout the entire room. Ashton tells him it’s the head of the department, who only comes around during the banquet or if there has been a death in the squad. “Very rarely does that happen though,” Ashton assures him when he tenses up at the word death. “All of us are trained to know when it’s dangerous, and we don’t take stupid risks. I promise all of us are pretty safe.”

He still tightens his grip on Ashton’s hand anyhow.

“Now,” the man clears his throat, taking a small glass plaque from one of the firemen. “This is the award for one of the most selfless, heroic members of our squad. He has shown that he will go above and beyond to save lives, even if it means risking his own in the process. I’ve had the greatest pleasure of meeting this man and seeing firsthand just how much of a kind soul he is.” He holds the plaque up high now, and says, “This award goes to Ashton Irwin!”

The room fills with thunderous applause, and Luke turns to Ashton to see the stunned look on his face and chuckles. “Get up there!” he laughs, standing up from his seat and helping Ashton up, pushing him towards the stage. He least expects it when Ashton unfreezes and turns back to him, pressing his lips against the corner of Luke’s mouth before embarking towards the stage.

Ashton kissed him.

_Ashton’s lips touched his._

There’s a sudden shaking of his shoulders, making him snap out of his daze to see Leighton pulling him back towards his seat, cracking some joke about how Luke was a loved up idiot. Luke almost hated just how right he was.

“Holy shit,” Ashton says, holding the plaque in his hands and staring at in awe. “I’m proud to be the recipient of this award, mainly because it is such an honor to know that this award only goes to the best of the best. To be considered that, it’s truly an honor.” He has the biggest grin on his face, dimples shining and Luke finds himself falling harder. “I need to thank my mom for raising me to be selfless, thank Calum for smacking me whenever I was being an idiot, and,” he pauses before locking eyes with Luke. “I want to thank my boyfriend, Luke, who is here tonight. We haven’t been dating long, but you have been a wonderful influence on me. Thank you for that.”

Luke is pretty sure that’s the moment he realizes that he might be a little in love with Ashton.

3

Their fake relationship doesn’t end there.

It is a few weeks later, and Luke is still living in Ashton’s apartment. They’ve formed a routine at this point: wake up in the morning, have breakfast together before Ashton is off to the station and Luke heads towards the music store he works part time at. Once the two of them are off work, whomever is off first makes dinner. It’s nice, having someone to come home to, if you ask Luke.

Sometimes Luke’s mother comes over, and the two of them have to be the couple Luke told his mom they were. It’s stupid, really, when they could have easily told her that it was a joke and they weren’t dating. Yet whenever Liz came over to see them Ashton would kiss his cheek and have an arm constantly around his waist, and well. Luke loved it.

Today though, Luke has come home early from work to find a woman sitting on his couch. She’s older, his mother’s age, and when she sees Luke she has a warm, friendly smile that scares him a bit. “You must be Luke! Ashton told me you’d be home before him today.” She moves from the couch, heading over to him and engulfing him into a hug. “I’m Anne, Ashton’s mother.”

_Oh. Oh shit._

“It’s nice to meet you,” Luke tells her, trying not to sound unsure. “Ashton didn’t tell me you were coming over, I would have cleaned up a bit.” And prepared myself, he thinks.

Anne scoffs, waving her hand. “No need, I know how messy my son is.” She walks back towards the couch, Luke following with hesitance. Ashton’s never told him a single thing about his mother, and if Luke was being honest right now he has no idea how he’s supposed to act around her. He glances up at the clock above the television and groans when he realizes that Ashton isn’t due home for another hour. “So, Luke, tell me about yourself! How did you and Ashton meet?”

Easy. “My cat, Pebbles, got stuck in a tree. I couldn’t get her down and ended up having to call the fire department in order to get her out. Ashton was the one who rescued her, and we ended up hitting it off almost immediately.”

Anne smiles at that. “Ash always did have a weakness for pets.” She picks at the hem of her shirt before asking, “I didn’t know the two of you lived together. Ashton doesn’t usually move that quickly in relationships.” She looks up at him, looking for a good reason as to why that is, and Luke is honestly at a loss for words.

He almost praises every god out there when the door opens to reveal Ashton, who gives both of them warm smiles. “I managed to get work off early, figured we could all go for dinner?” he says before striding into the living room and kissing Luke sweetly. “I hope my mom wasn’t too much trouble for you babe.”

“Oh, I’m not that hard on people!” Anne protests, kissing her son’s cheek and hugging him. “Luke actually got my good side. Anyhow, I’m starving and would love to go out and eat something.” She gives Luke a sort of look, one that says their conversation from before wasn’t over yet, and Luke has to swallow down his panic.

Anne leaves first, and once she’s out of sight Ashton begins to apologize. “I’m so sorry for dropping her on you with such short notice, she came into town last minute and I couldn’t get off work in time.”

Luke waves him off. “Nah, she wasn’t too hard on me. Luckily I have you now to answer the other questions.” He reaches for Ashton’s hand and slots them together, Ashton blushing slightly before they head down towards the car.

Dinner isn’t terrible; Ashton’s mother doesn’t bring up the subject of their living arrangements again, only asking some little things here and there about their relationship. It takes off the edge Luke felt by far, and he finds his nerves gone and begins to enjoy himself around Ashton’s mom. She’s a sweet lady, and Luke now knows where Ashton gets his smile and kindness from. Both of them are definite rays of sunshine.

“I’m still upset that you didn’t tell me you were dating someone Ashton,” she brings up as they head out towards their cars. “But I guess I can’t be mad for too long, considering how lovely Luke turned out to be.” She hugs Ashton one last time before turning towards Luke. “You are perfect for Ashton, I hope you realize that.” She pecks Luke’s cheek before heading towards her car, waving goodbye and Ashton smiles in her direction.

“Ready to head home?” He asks Luke, their hands still together and Luke nods. “Alright, let’s head out.”

The entire drive back to Ashton’s apartment has Luke thinking about what Anne said. Was he really perfect for Ashton? If he was being honest he didn’t even feel worthy of Ashton’s affections, and they weren’t even really dating.

He wishes they were.

4

It’s a slow day at work, one where they are lucky to get a customer once an hour. They’ve mostly been playing around with the instruments or singing loudly to whatever song is playing over the speakers. Michael has been tossing paper balls at him for the past hour from his spot by the guitars, not even bothering to pick up his wads of paper that litter the floor.

“So,” Michael asks him, tossing another ball that lands in Luke’s hair. “When were you going to tell me you and Ash were officially dating?”

Luke raises an eyebrow at his friend, flicking the ball of paper out of his hair and swatting at the next one Michael throws. “Amazing, Ash and I have managed to convince even you that we are dating, and you actually know the truth.” He takes one of the paper balls that rests on the desk and chucks it at Michael.

“Not what I meant,” Michael says. “You two haven’t realized it yet, but you two are definitely more than just fake dating. You two are in a full blown relationship, complete with kissing and sleeping in the same bed.” He begins to clean up the paper wads, tossing another at Luke. It smacks against his cheek lightly. “Hasn’t that dawned on you yet?”

Luke opens his mouth to respond when Oliver comes in from where he had been messing around in the recording booth, bobbing his head to some song in his head. “Hemmings,” he says, tapping the counter to get Luke’s attention. “I have someone for you, who is incredibly cute and thinks you are incredibly cute, and wants to take you out tonight at eight if you are not busy.” He winks, signifying that he’s that someone and Luke resists the urge to groan.

Oliver has been hitting on him ever since he started working there, and Luke usually can find a quick and witty remark to send him off. He’s too tired now though, any argument would be too weak to keep up. He opens his mouth to just tell Oliver to shut up when the bell above the door rings. Luke beams when he sees Ashton, carrying a takeout bag of Panda Express.

“I have the day off, figured I’d come see my favorite person,” Ashton says, placing the food on the counter and popping the lid off of his meal. He notices Oliver eyeing him and turns slightly, raising an eyebrow. “What did I interrupt?”

“Nothing,” Oliver says, eyes trailing Ashton up and down. “And who are you? Luke’s boyfriend or something?” He looks at Luke with an offended glance, hand over his chest. “Luke never told me he was dating anyone.”

Ashton seems to catch on, a smile forming on his face before he’s nodding and intertwining his and Luke’s hands across the counter. “We haven’t really announced it to everyone yet, still taking it slow. I just got out of a pretty rough relationship and don’t want to rush into something I’m not sure of.” He goes back to his beef and broccoli, but Oliver doesn’t seem to be letting up.

“Seems fake to me,” he says, folding his arms. “Sure you aren’t just trying to get Luke out of dating me?” Luke almost wants to roll his eyes at those words, because really? Michael is still standing awkwardly behind them, anticipating Luke’s next move and Luke wants to smack him.

“What do you want, proof?” Ashton laughs, pulling out his phone and showing Oliver his lock screen. It’s a picture they had taken one night after dinner, Ashton insisting they needed to take a picture together, and he had caught Luke off guard when he kissed his cheek. Luke’s face is scrunched up cutely as Ashton’s lips are pressed against his cheek. They look like a real couple, and it makes Luke’s heart hurt at the fact that they probably never will be.

Oliver seems satisfied, walking away with an eye roll back towards the guitars. Michael just sighs before whispering a “Told you!” and walking away. Ashton doesn’t seem to be fazed, and Luke is thankful for that.

5

“We need to take some pictures,” Ashton announces one night when they are sitting on the couch, Luke cuddled into Ashton’s side and Pebbles in Luke’s lap. There is some movie playing on HBO in the background, the volume turned down in favor of them talking. Luke hadn’t been paying attention to it much anyhow. “That picture of us is the only one I have in my phone. What if we get asked for more proof of us dating? We need to take more cute selfies.”

Luke laughs a bit, arms around Ashton’s middle and snuggles closer. “Whatever you say,” he chuckles, angling himself to nuzzle Ashton’s neck as Ashton takes the first photo. It’s simple, just Luke cuddling him and Ash smiling. The second photo has Ashton turning and kissing Luke’s forehead, Luke’s eyes fluttered shut.

They continue to do this: making goofy faces at the camera and even involving Pebbles at times. By the end Ashton’s camera roll has dozens of photos of the two of them being goofy, and the two of them are laughing loudly. It’s the sense of closeness Luke has craved with someone for so long, and he finds that his love for Ashton just continues to grow the more they continue with it.

“One last picture,” Ashton declares, positioning himself to face Luke. “We should make it a kissing one, one that shows we can be sappy with kissing photos too, you know?” and yeah, Luke agrees with it being a good idea, but the fact that he’s actually kissing Ashton, for the first time not in front of someone, makes him nervous.

Luckily, Ashton is a natural. He’s placed a hand behind Luke’s neck, pulling Luke forward and pressing their lips together. Ashton snaps the picture quickly, but before he can pull away, Luke cups Ashton’s face, deepening the kiss. It’s risky, and he’s awaiting Ashton’s shove, but instead Ashton drops his phone on the floor, startling Pebbles and making her dart off towards the other room. Ashton’s hands go to Luke hair, tangling themselves into the blond hairs as their lips continue to move against one another. It’s passionate, wonderful, and when Luke finds himself being pushed backwards onto his back, he’s not complaining. Ashton’s lips are now nipping at his neck and he can’t bring himself to make Ashton stop.

He should have known things would have escalated from there. In just a few short minutes his clothing has been shed and tossed to some other part of the apartment, Ashton’s clothes ending up somewhere near them. It’s right there on Ashton’s living room couch that Luke realizes that sex definitely isn’t apart of fake dating.

He’s not complaining.

+1

It’s been a week since he and Ashton had slept together when he gets a phone call from Calum. Ashton had been called in for a fire destroying a suburban home, promising Luke that he would get back in time for dinner. Ever since the night they slept together, the two of them had danced around an official title, still insisting that this entire arrangement was them keeping up an act.

So when Luke answers the phone, he expects it to be Calum telling him that they are being ridiculous and that they need to realize that they actually are, in fact, dating. It’s not until he hears Calum’s words that Luke’s heart drops to the pit of his stomach and he almost drops his cell phone.

“Luke,” his voice sounds sad, raspy from what Luke deduces to be crying. “Ashton went in, he always makes sure the building is clear before leaving. A board came down and knocked him unconscious, we didn’t find him until a few minutes after.” There’s a pause. “You need to get down to the hospital, soon.”

There’s tears in his eyes as he rushes towards the hospital, all that’s running through his mind is how worried he is about Ashton. Ashton was usually so cautious during his fire calls, assuring Luke that he was careful and safe. Now he’s in the hospital, god knows what injuries occurred, and Luke hates the tears pricking at his eyes as he arrives at the hospital, barreling through the doors and wiping furiously at the tears.

Calum is in the waiting room, and when Luke enters he’s up from his seat and wrapping his arms around him. “It’s mostly a broken leg, but he inhaled a lot of smoke. I figured it would be best to call you first, after his mom. I mean, you are his boyfriend and all.”

This time, Luke doesn’t bother to correct him. He’s far too panicked to deal with keeping up the façade of a real relationship. Calum and Michael had been on their cases for too long about it, he was tired of fighting it.

When the doctor comes back, it’s Luke that follows him into Ashton’s room, where he is resting on the bed, watching something on the television. When he locks eyes with Luke his entire face lights up, arms held out as Luke collapses against Ashton. They are both hugging each other tightly, and Luke doesn’t bother to refrain himself from peppering kisses all over Ashton’s soot covered face.

“I was so fucking worried about you,” he says in-between kisses, tears still making way. “Calum called me and told me that you were trapped in a burning house and they couldn’t find you for quite some time. Don’t you ever fucking scare me like that again, okay?” He presses the last kiss against Ashton’s awaiting lips, this one longer and sweeter. “I can’t lose you, okay? I can’t.” It’s the first time he’s been honest about his feelings, and it feels good to finally let it out.

Ashton chuckles against his lips. “I’ll try not to,” he promises, kissing Luke again. “Don’t want to scare my boyfriend again, now do I?”

Luke stares at him incredulously, eyes twinkling as a smile grows on his face. “I thought this was just pretend?” he says, just to mess with Ashton.

It makes the older boy laugh, hands still resting against Luke’s face. “It hasn’t been pretend for a while Lukey boy and you know it.” They are kissing again, and Luke likes this. Kissing Ashton, for real this time, feels right, like coming home.

Too bad it’s ruined by someone in the doorway clearing their throat.

“So you admit to it,” its Michael, with his arms folded against his chest and Calum next to him, wearing a smirk. “You two actually are dating, nothing fake about it?”

Luke and Ashton look at each other, both of them wearing matching grins before both of them say, “Yes.” They burst out into laughter, kissing each other’s lips again and again, and Luke is now grateful he burnt his apartment down. If he hadn’t made that careless mistake, he probably never would have met Ashton.

If you ask him, he’ll say he’s pretty damn lucky.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on tumblr at lucasashtons


End file.
